Lost backpacker was 'total idiot'

Jamie Neale, 19, told Australia's 60 Minutes television programme that he was "a total idiot" to venture unprepared into the Blue Mountains, 60 miles west of Sydney.

"In the UK you can walk for a day and you'd end up in a pub," Jamie said. "Out here, you can get lost so easily. You should respect the fact, be more prepared and think about what you are doing a lot more."

He said he set off for a hike on July 3 with only two bread rolls and a small bottle of water. He wore light clothing, did not carry his mobile phone or a safety beacon and told no one where he was headed.

"I had overconfidence and I didn't respect the seriousness of the situation, and I made mistakes," he acknowledged to the programme, which paid him 200,000 Australian dollars (£98,000) for his story.

Temperatures in the Blue Mountains were about 55 Fahrenheit (13 Celsius) during the day and fell to nearly 32 F (0 C) at night while he was lost.

"It got really, really cold. My feet were burning," he said on camera as he walked with a reporter through the thick trees and plants in the area where he was lost. "(I was) trying to move my toes because I was scared that I might get something like trench foot or gangrene. Then, where it was also moist I kept getting attacked by the leeches."

He said he ate seeds and weeds, and kept warm at night under strips of bark. He waved his blue shirt at circling helicopters, but the forest was so thick that he was not seen. One day, he fell into a stream and then pushed on in wet clothing. On the day he realised he was walking in circles, he began to fear he would never be rescued.

He had a notebook with him and began to write farewell letters to his family. "(I) had actually written some goodbye notes and things to family saying, my last walk, saying sorry, explaining how I'd got lost and different things like that," he said.

Two hikers happened upon Jamie last Wednesday. He spent two days in the hospital for treatment of dehydration and exposure. Doctors said his lungs were not in good enough condition for him to fly home, and he plans to spend a few weeks with family in Perth.